Statement by Mr. WANG Chen of Chinese Delegation at the Sixth Committee of 63rd Session of UN General Assembly, On Item 74: Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the Work of Its Forty-first Session

2008-10-20

2008/10/20

Statement by Mr. WANG Chen of Chinese Delegation at the Sixth Committee of the 63rd Session of the UN General Assembly, On Item 74: Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the Work of Its Forty-first Session

New York, 20 October 2008

Mr. Chairman,

This year's session of UNCITRAL was focused on finalizing the UN Convention on the Contracts of International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea prepared by Working Group III, and on the consideration and approval of this convention. In addition, the session, as usual, considered progress reports submitted by other working groups under relevant agenda items and deliberated on the explanations provided by the Secretariat on the working methods concerning decision-making mechanism of the Commission and the role of observers. The Chinese delegation takes a positive view of the legislative purposes of the said Convention and highly commends the efforts made by the working group in this regard. At the same time, we'd like to express our regret at the failure to reach greater compromises on some individual issues in the Convention, which might negatively affect its entry into force and application.

The Chinese delegation has noted that the drafting of other relevant international instruments, model laws and legislative guidelines is progressing smoothly at UNCITRAL. The UNCITRAL Secretariat has been devoting itself to examining the new scenarios and new areas of the international trade development, and has made unremitting efforts to develop relevant internationally-accepted rules. In this connection, the Chinese delegation would like to express its appreciation and support. We will take an active part in the related drafting work and hopes that UNCITRAL will, through its productive work, further contribute to the unification process of global trade laws and rules.

The year 2008 marks the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the New York Convention. The implementation of this convention since its adoption has fully testified to the indispensable role of UNCITRAL in unification of international trade laws and rules, and to the global reach of this Convention. In parallel to the activities organized by UNCITRAL in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the New York Convention, commemorative activities have also been organized in China.

The Chinese delegation appreciates and endorses the Moot Competition of law students hosted by UNCITRAL. We believe that these young contestants of today are very likely to be legal authorities of tomorrow. Such activities, regularly carried out by UNCITRAL, will provide a valuable opportunity for young legal talents to get involved in the implementation of international commercial rules. This will, in turn, deepen their understanding of the significance of unifying global trade laws and rules, and motivate them to make real efforts to boost the unification process, which will ultimately promote the smooth development of global economy and trade.